Measuring system for determining the capacitance ratio of a pair of capacitors

Claim 1

A measuring system for comparing first and second unknown capacitors to determine the ratio of their capacitances, comprising: means for simultaneously, and rapidly, charging the first and second unknown cpacitors, at time t 0 , to the same d-c voltage V s by turning on a pair of substantially identical first and second transistors each of which series connects a respective assigned one of the first and second unknown capacitors to a d-c power supply, the voltage V s , to which each of the capacitors is charged, being equal to the output voltage of the d-c power supply less the voltage drop across the capacitor's series-connected transistor; A series combination of a resistor and a third transistor, whose base and collector are interconnected to form a diode, connected across said d-c power supply and which third transistor is substantially identical to said first and second transistors, the d-c voltage across said resistor thereby being equal to the voltage V s ; a voltage divider connected across said resistor for producing a d-c reference voltage V ref . which is significantly less than, but is directly proportional to and varies in step with variations of, the voltage V s ; means for simultaneously, and slowly, discharging the first and second capacitors from d-c voltage V s to the same d-c reference voltage V ref ., said first and second transistors being turned off to initiate discharging of the first and second capacitors, each of which capacitors is shunted by a discharge resistor through which the capacitor discharges, the first capacitor having a discharge time constant, determined by its capacitance and the resistance of its shunting discharge resistor, substantially shorter than the discharge time constant of the second capacitor, which is determined by its capaitance and its shunting resistance, and discharging to the reference voltage V ref ., at time t 1 , long before the second capacitor reaches the reference voltage at the later time t 2 , the time duration from t 0 to t 1 thereby being a function of the capacitance of the first capacitor while the time duration from t 0 to t 2 is a function of the capacitance of the second capacitor, the second capacitor, its series-connected second transistor and its shunt-connected discharge resistor being included in an oscillating circuit which produces periodically-recurring triggering pluses to turn said first and second transistors on to effect rapid charging of the first and second unknown capacitors, the triggering pulses being produced in the oscillating circuit by a voltage comparator which compares the voltage across the second capacitor to the d-c reference voltage V ref ., the period of the triggering pulses thereby being a function of the capacitance of the second capacitor and being equal to the time duration from t 0 to t 2 ; another voltage comparator which compares the voltage across the first capacitor to the d-c reference voltage V ref . to detect when the first capacitor discharges to the reference voltage, thereby to determine the time duration from t 0 to t 1 , said other voltage comparator producing a periodically-recurring rectangular wave whose duty cycle represents the ratio of the capacitances of the first and second unknown capacitors, the rectangular wave having pulse components each of which has a pulse width equal to the time duration from t 0 to t 1 while the period of the rectangular wave is equal to the time duration from t 0 to t 2 ; an averaging circuit for producing, from said periodically-recurring rectangular wave, an output signal having an amplitude which is proportional to the ratio of the capacitances of the first and second unknown capacitors; and indicating means, responsive to said output signal, for providing an indication of the value of the capacitance ratio of the first and second unknown capacitors.